


A letter to Jervis Tetch, One Year Later.

by raabbitfaace (ggigirichards)



Series: Rabbit's Gotham Universe (RGU) [2]
Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Alice in Wonderland References, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Arkham Asylum is Terrible, F/M, Gotham City is Terrible, Letters, Original Character(s), Unplanned Pregnancy, alice said hm i hate u . also ur da father of my child. suck it, crane has a sense of humor but only internally. externally he grunts, cranes a shady bench, like heavily
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:21:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26336356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ggigirichards/pseuds/raabbitfaace
Summary: Alice Graves , a year after her supposed soulmate was sent to Arkham, finally decides to communicate with him in a moment of vulnerability. What she writes, however, shocks even Jonathan Crane.
Relationships: Jervis Tetch & Original Female Character(s), Jervis Tetch/Original Character(s)
Series: Rabbit's Gotham Universe (RGU) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1893088
Kudos: 6





	A letter to Jervis Tetch, One Year Later.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi ! This is very random, but I have an ongoing series in progress and this is the first piece i finished. It will all be explained soon, but this also works as it’s own stand alone piece, as Jonathan is just as confused as everyone else. 
> 
> For context, Alice found out about Jervis’ abuse towards his sister when he went to Arkham, hence her anger. She’s heavily inspired by American Mcgee’s Alice series , so i hope to show off her badassery in coming fics. As an a nice light introduction, we get to see her sadness and anger EHDJSHD. also , bold is supposed to represent her pressure, like pressing her pen really hard into the paper, and her crossing stuff out lol
> 
> oh , also , harley and other friends mentioned will also be explored and explained later . harley is from regular dc uni with a twist, she is not ecco >:)

The handwriting stood out amongst other letters, like a bright red flag in a sea of muted gray tones. As soon as the man in the newspaper hat set eyes on it, he had started to weep — and when he finally read it , alone in his cell, his neighboring inmates wouldn’t hear the end of it. The man was beyond hysterical, obviously driven to such an emotional state by the letter with the pretty writing. 

Call Crane what you will, but they had worked too hard thus far to have it all tossed away for a note. In order to get Tetch functioning again, he’d have to understand why he was losing his mind in the first place.

And, until now, he had thought Alice was an imaginary friend. Or . . . Girlfriend. To cope with a dead sister. It was a very disturbing situation, one that he didn’t like to ponder too deeply.

Waiting until the group meeting time, Jonathan found the confiscated letter in Tetch’s psychiatrist’s desk. He had a few minutes before someone noticed he was gone . . . And he’d just claim he was lost . . .

That gives him time to pour over the letter from the fake woman.

That’s what Jerome said, at least. He said Tetch made the woman up, or hallucinated her — because , jesus christ — no way she was real, right?

But imaginary friends don’t write letters. No, this was a real woman, and skimming through the note. . . 

_" Jervis ,_

_It’s been a year already, can you believe it ? I hardly can. What’s it like in there, do the days bleed together ? Do you stare at the wall for hours on end ?_

_Small talk seems wrong and Gordon tells me this is a horrible idea, but this is a mistake I’m alright with making._

_I don't know why I’m writing to you, truthfully. I swore to myself that all communication between us would stop the day the GCPD took you in , but things can change, as you know. I suppose I'm just feeling **vulnerable** and weak right now, I've had a very difficult couple of days. a dear friend of mine was murdered. ( So i’ve been told, but he has a trickster way about him. I won't be fully convinced until I see his body , yet there’s still that dreadful feeling in the pit of my stomach, if you know what I mean, and I just yearn for our **olden days, when you would hold me while I cried. Do you think about those days often? ~~At all, even?~~ **)   
That close friend of mine helped me through some very confusing months after your capture. He reminds me so much of Cheshire , and it simply hurts to think he might be gone. You two wouldn’t get along, I don’t think. Have you ever met Victor Zsasz?_

_This must be boring to you, right? Are you even reading this? I doubt you care much about my life now , but I remember when you did once. I'll just pretend I'm talking to the **Hatter I knew, and not Jervis Tetch. I just need to pretend right now, if you don’t mind. I need to get these things off my chest.**_

_I’ll admit it to you, in the most blunt way, that I was pregnant when the GCPD took you in. The two weeks leading up to finding out about her were awful , Hatter . **It took me right back to when I was in the ward , all those years mourning my family. How could you?**_

_**It was cruel of you to lie to me like that. I was your Alice , don’t you remember ? It was us in wonderland, us against the man trying to twist my mind, us against the world? ~~Was that another lie, Hatter?~~**_

_**I wasn't never your Alice, was I ? I was a replacement for your sister, nothing more, right ? Well, you weren’t a replacement to me. If that means anything. I bet it brings you great joy, knowing you broke me as you did.** I’ll be blunt with you again, Hatter, it wasn’t easy getting through pregnancy with a broken heart and a severely warped perspective on reality, ( in Gotham , while it went through several cycles of terrorism , mind you! ) but it was truly worth it. _ "

. . . not only was the woman just as unhinged as every other inmate there, but she was also eligible for serious financial compensation. 

How many people had a wonderland-centric delusion here , Jonathan wondered ? Were there more running around?

Still, it was making sense now. The woman was real, they had a deep connection, something big exploded the day Jervis was arrested . . . the woman ends up knocked up, and doesn’t tell him for a year? 

Drama. Exciting. If only Jerome were here, he would be providing great commentary. It wasn’t Crane’s forte ; he was just trying to get Tetch’s head in the game, but _wow._ Was this a lot. He felt wrong, digging on, but . . . 

_  
If you would like to hear about our daughter, i can tell you a bit. I owe you that much, considering you did help make her. I won’t tell you her name, and I hope you can understand why. Talking about her makes me happy, she makes me so proud already. She’s just started to roll over, and every time I start to weep a bit._

_She’s just like a dolly, you see. She gets compliments every time we leave the house, the cutest baby they’ve ever seen, they say. . . Now i may be biased, but it’s true!_

_Born with a full head of black hair, too, if only you could see! I love dressing her, though she can’t stand headbands or hair clips. Always taking them off. . . she’s a very opinionated young woman already. She babbles , but sometimes she says it with so much conviction I think she has something profound to say. I love to play a game with my friends , where we guess where she’ll end up in twenty-five years. Ed says she’ll be a lawyer. Harley thinks she’s going to be a CIA agent, and only God knows where she got that idea from. Zsasz thinks she’s going to be a crime lord. . . Personally, I hope she becomes an actress or what have you, and moves to LA. **That’ll be something, won’t it? ~~Our girl,~~ dazzling millions? **_

_She’s at a stage now where she knows whether it’s mama holding her or not. She smiles when she sees me or Harley , and stares at Ed whenever he's near. I think she likes the color green. She pulls at my jewelry now and squeals when I tickle her. She has your eyes, your lashes too. She giggles her little head off every time Zsasz talks to her, and every time it’s like music to my ears._

_She’s the best thing that has ever happened to me, Hatter, and though i will **never be able to forgive you for what you’ve done , i will forever be grateful for what you’ve given me.  
One day, when she’s old enough, I’ll tell her about you. Maybe I’ll spare some of the worse details, but I’ll tell her about you when she asks me why she doesn’t have a daddy. **_

_Goodbye, Hatter, thank you for letting me be vulnerable with you once more. I’m honestly surprised you hadn’t clawed your way out of Arkham yet with a new crew._ ~~I hope you’re well.~~  
— ALICE L.   


He wasn’t necessarily fond of his co-conspirator, but there was a great deal of pity in Crane’s system after finishing the letter. The woman was justified in separating the child from Tetch , of course , but her written words were cold.

. . . He’d tell Jerome they needed a few more days to prepare, while the man sorts his wits. And he’ll return the letter to Jervis, because he’s not a monster.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading ! I’d love any interactions, and if you have any feedback or questions, lemme know! i know its kind of chaotic haha im sorry


End file.
